Ice tray



Jan. 10, 1939. L. BLECKLEY, JR 2,143,754

ICE TRAY Filed Oct. 16, 1957 e Patented Jan. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES ICEmy Logan Bleckley, Jr., Atlanta, Ga. Application October 16, 1937,Serial No. 169,493

3 Claims. (Cl. ez-loss) This invention relates to ice making and moreparticularly to devices found in association with domestic refrigeratorsfor freezing blocks or cubes of ice.

Heretofore it has been proposed .to provide freezing pans havingremovable grids from which the ice could be removed by the applicationof hot water to the bottom portion of the ice pan. but not withoutconsiderable difliculty and waste. It has, also been proposed heretoforeto provide a freezing tray with a plurality of separate cups forfacilitating the removal therefrom by the application of hot waterthereto but the method employed in securing the cups together hasinvolved considerable difliculty in manufacturing and expense.

It is an object of my invention to provide a freezing tray structurewhich can be readily and economically fabricated.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a freezing'tray whichwill freeze ice quickly and which will facilitate the removal of frozenmaterial therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to provide a freezing unit sanstheusual removable grid or other removable parts in order that ice may befrozen and later obtained by simply holding the unit in invertedpositionunder the faucet, whether part or all of the ice is desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide a freezing unit or tray,from which the ice is to be removed by heat exchange with water, soarranged that ice within the tray is not exposed to the water during theremoval process.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a modified 40 form of ice tray inaccordance with my inven- Figure 2 is an inverted sectional view takenalong lines 9-9 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view partly in'section and partly in elevation of thetray. shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the tray shown in Figure 1; and vFigure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of a tray slightly modifiedfrom that shown in Fig--' Referring to Figure 1, a plurality of thesubstantially rectangular parallelopiped panlike structures 60 which maybe fabricated from sheet aluminum, or other suitable material aresupported adjacent to each other with all their short sides 6| in linelongitudinally of the tray and all their long sides 62 in parallelrelation transversely of the tray. The pans 60 are slightly tapered fromtop to bottom as shown in cross section in Figures 2 and 3, beingslightly largerat the top than on the bottom in order to facilitateremoval of ice therefrom. The long sides of the pans at their centersalong a vertical axis are crimped to provide tapering V-shaped groove 65in said pan as shown in detail in Figure 4 whereby a diamondshaped'conduit is provided for the passage of hot water applied to thebottom of said pan, or at the top when the pan is in inverted positionas shown in Figure 1 in order that a sufficient quantity of hot watermay pass in good heat exchange rela tion with the ice pan' fill to makefor the quick, simple and neat removal of the ice with minimum wastethereof.

Supporting the pans in their assembled relation.

is a wire 68 about which are rolled the top lips 61 of the small sidesSI of the pans. The pans may or may not when assembled'be arranged totouch each other along the sides 62 of their top edges. When it isdesired that additional strength be given to the assembled structure, inmy preferred form, I provide a sheet metal frame 68 which may be pressedto substantially rectangular shape as shown in Figure 1 which isarranged to he slipped about the assembly of pans before the applicationof the wire loop 66 and both the upper lips of the pan and the entireupper lip 69 of the frame rolled over the wire loop as shown in crosssection in Figure 2. Should additional strength be desired for theassembled structure, I may form the lower edge of the rectangular framewith a roll as shown in cross section in Figures 2 and 3 which may ormay not have therein a rectangular wire loop similar to that in the rollin the upper part of said frame. The upper part of said frame at itsends ll may be formed to provide handles 12 as shown in Figure 1 and incross section in Figure 3, to facilitate handling and removal of saidtray. g

In Figure 5 I have shown a fragmentary sectional view of a tray similartothat shown in Figures 1 to 4, inclusive but slightly modified in thatit is intended to omit the V -shaped grooves 65 from the pans 60 andprovide openings 85' at suitable locations in frame 68' about pans 5 iceblocks which may fall from said invertedtraj;

inverted tray for that purpose.

Inherent in the construction of the trays in accordance with myinvention which are described in this specification is thecharacteristic nor property which facilitates the removal of the frozenmaterial within said trays. The trays may be simply inverted under thehot water spigot in the kitchen for a relatively short period of time,said hot water passing in intimate relation with a relatively greatportion of the area of said frozen material therein making for quickremoval 'pf said frozen material. Also inherent in the construction ofthe trays in accordance with my invention is thesimplicity offabrication from de- ,sirable' materials and the accompanying low costof manufacture.

11-. will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changesmay be made in this device without departing from the spirit of theinvention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown inthe drawing and described in the pended claims.

I claim:

1. An ice tray comprising a frame, independent cups nested in said frameand of a length to fit between the sides of the frame with theirextremities engaging the frame, adjacent cups havinto an ice blockcontainer placed beneaththe' ing side wall portions .in contact and sidewall portions out of contact to provide water passages therebetween,said frame including a skirt serving to retain water around theunderside of the cups when the tray is inverted and allowing waterto'escape through said passages, said cups and frame being fastenedtogether to form a unitary tray, the construction and arrangementproviding a liquid container when in upright position and when ininverted position serving to distribute liquid over the bottom of thecups and permit discharge of the same in a retarded manner for obtainingmaximum heat transfer.

2. An ice tray comprising a frame, cups nested together and secured insaid frame to form a tray, said cups having adjacent upper side wallportions in contact and adjacent upper side wall portions not incontact, said frame being constructed and arranged to confine a body ofheat transmitting liquid to the underside of said cups when the tray isin inverted positionso that such confined fiuid may be discharged pastthe upper side wall portions which are not in contact.

3. The structure recited in claim 2, said frame including a skirt of awidth substantially correspending to the height of the cups and providedwith spaced orifices for the escape of liquid therethrough.

' LOGAN BLECmEY, J12.

